Stairway to Paradise

by Nadia Natali

Her father invented Kodachrome, and her mother—who sang and danced professionally—was the sister of George and Ira Gershwin. Growing up in Westport, Connecticut amidst great privilege and uncommon fame, Nadia Natali might have chosen a life of comfort and celebrity. But from an early age, she was driven to create one of great consequence instead, one in which she could seek her true purpose and life’s deepest meanings.

When she met photographer Enrico Natali, the two embarked on a shared quest not simply for adventure, but also a journey to discover how their lives could most profoundly unfold. Their yearnings for lives fully-lived took them to a wild and wonderful piece of property surrounded by the Los Padres National Forest in the coastal mountains of Southern California—a place where they lived in a teepee, started a family, and carved out rich satisfaction as they transformed their beautiful piece of earth into Blue Heron Ranch.

The forty years between then and now have been filled with unimaginable adventures, the kind of tragedy that can utterly destroy the lives of those who must endure them and go on, deep introspection and personal growth, as well as joy and gratitude as bounteous as the natural world surrounding them.

Stairway to Paradise is a memoir of uncommon honesty and clarity, the story of one woman’s determination to make the most of the gifts her family heritage has offered her, and to live wisely and honorably in every way one can. This is a book to savor, one that will make you cry and marvel at how essential it is for all of us to bring a commitment to truth and openhearted honesty to all our challenges as well as our many blessings.

Nadia Natali works as a dance psychotherapist and specializes in trauma work and dance/movement. She offers DanceMedicine workshops and trains therapists in DanceMedicine Practica to impart skills that blend somatic psychotherapy with movement; she also runs cooking events and gives weekend meditation retreats with her husband, Enrico, on their land north of Ojai, California.